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Julianna Gibbons, a long-time Pentacle actor and volunteer, recently wrote a letter to many of you. If you didn’t see it, you’ll want to read what she has to say:
I am a storyteller.
You are a storyteller.
For as long as humans have formed communities, we have been storytellers. The urge to connect with one another unites us, and allows our connections to span time and place. I want to share my story with you.
And, I also want to encourage you to support the vital storytelling that happens at Pentacle Theatre.
I am a theater teacher. Since I was a child, all I wanted to do was perform. Hours were spent before the mirrored feature wall in my childhood home practicing the perfect melodramatic face. The number of times I subjected my younger brother to “It’s time to play school!” was an early sign that I’d go into teaching.
I delighted in theater in middle and high school and was active on stage and backstage as a costumer. At Western Oregon University, I double majored in Theater and Language Arts Teaching and became endorsed in both and in Public Speaking. I started my professional career at South Salem High School, a wonderful place full of supportive colleagues and creative potential.
For years, it was exhausting but also fantastic and enriching. I was happy to pour all my energy into my work.
Fast forward a decade. I was buried.
I was directing and producing between three and seven shows per year at South. I was taking students on multi-day field trips to see and create more theater. It left me exhausted and – after a decade of this grind – I was on a sure path to burnout.
I struggled to find my joy.
Learn how Julianna refilled her cup.
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